Pakistan accountability court again summons Sharif family

Islamabad, Sep 19 (IANS) The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday gave former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other family members another seven days to appear before the accountability court in connection with the Supreme Court-mandated corruption cases.

The order came on three cases submitted by the NAB against Sharif, his sons Hussain and Hassan, daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd). The NAB ordered that the family should appear before the court on September 26, Geo News reported.

Asif Kirmani, a close aide of Nawaz Sharif appeared before the court on behalf of Sharif Family and apprised the judge that due to illness of the former premier’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz, all the family members were in London.

He also told the court that Kulsoom Nawaz is scheduled to undergo another surgery in the next couple of days, therefore an exact date for the family’s return cannot be ascertained.

The court directed that the summons be dispatched to the Sharif family’s London address.

During the court proceedings, NAB prosecutors told the court that they were not allowed entry into the Sharif family’s multiple homes and had to hand the summons to the guards at each of the properties.

The prosecutors also said that earlier, Sharif’s sons had refused to receive the summons.

A PML-N leader close to the Sharif family had told Dawn on Monday that “Nawaz Sharif and his children will not appear before the accountability court and they are likely to skip all the proceedings of the accountability courts”.

Last month, the Sharif family and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had chosen not to appear before NAB after they were asked to join the investigation in different cases.

“The Sharifs are anticipating the outcome of these references, therefore they have no plans to appear before the accountability courts,” the PML-N leader said.

Maryam, who had led the Lahore NA-120 by-election campaign on behalf of her mother Kulsoom Nawaz for over a month, left for London hours after her mother won the by-poll with over 61,000 votes.

Maryam and her husband Muhammad Safdar’s departure has already triggered speculation that the entire Sharif family has gathered in London and may not return to face corruption and money laundering references filed against them in the accountability courts.